“4 Strategies to Ignite Growth for Your Business: And The One You MUST Have to Guarantee Your Business The Sales and Cash Flow You Want and Deserve!”

Join us for this live, FREE Webinar on {December, 5th, at 12:00 Noon Pacific Time}!

I am an expert at working with small businesses to ignite sales growth, and drive cash flow. I hold a franchise record of most sales in a week and my diverse background from serving in the British Army to Sales and Leadership positions with a major national Bank, gives my clients access to a wealth of experience.

During this live presentation, you will learn:

The Identity of The #1 Killer Of ALL Small Business … and How To Avoid It

What Your Biggest Competitors are Doing that You Aren’t …(Hint: It Isn’t Social Media)

How To Grab Market Share from Your Competition Without Spending A Dime on Marketing

and Why Christmas is the Perfect Time to Work on Moving Your Business to the Next Level

Always nice to find a fun story that makes a serious point. This lady just does one thing. It may not be forever and she will need to be on her toes to sustain it but Google came calling because she created a niche and stuck to it. She also got free publicity in a major newspaper. Good for her!

Get this book for inspiration on why and how to set a purpose for your company.

I was just reading this awesome book, Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. It is incredibly well written and researched and it tells me what I have known for a long time but until now had lacked the data to back me up.

Suffice to say that businesses with a purpose, businesses who look beyond profit and businesses with underlying value do better in the long-run than those without. I can only assume that they are also much nicer places to work. All of these stellar businesses make profits, huge ones generally but that is not their raison d’etre, something far more compelling and unifying is at their core.

I have this fundamental conversation with all of my clients. Some really struggle to nail what their credo (their statement of intention) is. We work together to build the business as best we can based on their vision but knowing all along that when the penny drops on why they really get out of bed in the morning their results will rocket. Some still haven’t found it.

It would be poor coaching for me to suggest my own examples for what might be my clients’ credo so I wanted to ask you, my audience of business owners and successful professionals, to reply to me in private with your written statement of purpose or mission so that I may use those as real-life peer-to-peer examples. These will spark the thought process in my clients both now and in the future. Your mission may launch many others. If you would like to state your occupation or sector and have me omit that example when dealing with your potential competition then I will be happy to oblige.

All respondents will receive a copy of Brian Tracy’s e-book Eat that Frog and the winner with the most compelling “I have to work with/for that person/business” statement will win a month’s free coaching from me valued officially by Mastercard as PRICELESS.

Steven Gerrard after Liverpool lose again. Not a surprise having seen the coaching that they are getting.

I recently caught an episode of “Being Liverpool” on Fox. It is a fly on the wall documentary about this season with Liverpool FC in England. As a former sportsman myself I was left astonished at the tiny gap in attitudes and clarity of thought between the million pound-earning premiership and the semi-pro (verging on amateur) rugby that I played ten years ago.

The manager/coach Brendan Rodgers is frequently seen giving pep talks to his players during training and before games that leave his players no wiser as to what to do. He strings together generic, vague platitudes that give no direction. His players may be among the best in the world but they are operating in a fast paced, dynamic team environment and even they need something to hang onto by way of nuggets of wisdom, themes to work with. He gives none.

If you haven’t seen it this program is not a reality show and, as far as I can discern, this is not an impression created by malicious editing. These are talks to the team just before they take the field. Having been in my fair share of dressing rooms I know that there is little additional time for the manager to get his final points over. He just abjectly fails to convert that time into anything equating to value. I was astounded. I had a coach like that in 1997 and we thought that he was actually suffering from some early stages of a mental disorder his talks were so vague and pointless. Mr Rodgers is, I hope, not suffering from any condition other than being put in charge of the hopes and dreams of hundreds of thousands of people and just not being up to the task.

I see today that Liverpool lost again in an important match, having been ahead. My money is on one of two things happening – Brendan Rodgers is quite correctly sacked before the end of October or Liverpool finish in the bottom half of the Premiership for the first time in decades. Top quality teams simply cannot thrive with such an abject lack of clarity and direction.

I see that he has apparently delivered a 180 age manifesto detailing roles and responsibilities within the team but based on what I saw in the footage I have seen, the fact that he was hired on the basis of that manifesto speaks more to his writing skills (or that his audience were too busy to read it) than his other communication skills. It would be the right thing to do to get so granular but sadly the execution seems lacking.

But how does this relate to you and your business? Well, are you being clear with your teams (employees, consultants, alliances) about what it is that you need them to do? And using terms like “do your best, have fun, the result will be a win.” does not cut the mustard. What does “step up” mean specifically? (BTW that is a commonly vague management term not a direct Rodgers quote) No matter how good your team are, unless you are clear about your expectations they WILL disappoint you.

If you are a Liverpool supporter I am genuinely sorry for your loss and I hope to offer a retraction to this post within weeks. I don’t think that I will have to though.

I don’t imagine than many of my readers are shareholders in Facebook and if you are then I am sorry for you but this article is excellent. If you hold shares do you sell or hold (I’m not sure that you’ll want to buy after reading this article)? I don’t know what to suggest but MZ just went through the roof in my estimation.

In my workshop “The Seven Lessons That Any Business Can Learn From the Vancouver Canucks” I address the little things that they do to help their team perform at the highest level. One of the many advantages that they give their players is personal chefs to prepare the right food at the right time to nourish the players bodies before and after games and practices, and even during rehabilitation.

But you don’t need to look after your body like that right? No, you have never slumped in your chair at the end of the day exhausted from a day of tough sales calls, negotiations, management, planning, learning. That doesn’t happen to you ever. Right?

Of course there is and if you ever wonder why you feel worse than a penalty killing, shot blocking hockey player it probably has a lot to do with your diet. I clued into this after engaging the services of a nutritionist, Kristen Bell RRD, last year. Together we have worked on my diet to create easy to make, easy to eat, tasty meal plans that I can look forward to but that also serve my business athlete needs for a (more) consistent energy level throughout a long day. Since then I have lost 12lbs and have a far better level of productivity due to avoiding that dreaded afternoon energy crisis.

What follows is the summary of our work together and as we move into fall and winter I will be asking her to provide some more recipes for us all to enjoy. Thanks Kris.

Energy Management for Business Athletes!

Do you ever wonder why you get sleepy around mid-afternoon and feel less motivated to get your work done? Studies show that having a higher carb breakfast is related to how tired and hungry you will feel throughout the day. As a business owner myself, every hour counts to be as productive as possible, and I can’t afford to have these crashes. I have made permanent changes in my diet to keep my blood sugar levels steady throughout the day (spikes in blood sugar causes low energy and cravings), maximize my energy by eating every 3 hours, and combining any carbs I have with a protein or fat source. This not only keeps me full for a longer period of time, but also keeps me alert and productive. Use these tips below to maximize your energy throughout the day, and prevent those energy crashes.

DON’T leave the house without breakfast –

A complete breakfast should consist of all three: Carbs, fat and protein. Instead of grabbing a bagel and running out the door. Cut the bagel in half, spread some all natural peanut butter on it, and grab a hardboiled egg for some protein. Breakfast should be consumed within 30 minutes of waking up.

Avoid the vending machine after lunch. Your crashes and waistline will only get worse if you give in to your chocolate cravings reaching for the snickers bar at the nearest vending machine. Be proactive, bring your own snack. Try a handful of trail mix with some beef jerky, a ready to drink protein shake, or maybe some of your left over lunch.

If you fail to plan, you will plan to fail. We have all heard this saying before, but couldn’t be truer when it comes to your diet! Avoid eating out of emotion or convenience. Instead plan to bring healthy food so you will not give in to the pressures of unhealthy food around you, but have healthy choices that are comparable so you still feel satisfied. Such choices are things like vegie sticks, some nuts (not too many, don’t be greedy or use the salted type which tempt you to a) stuff yourself and b) go to the bar!)

Try this recipe for a healthy, high protein lunch you can take with you to work!

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

· 1 head fresh iceberg lettuce OR prepackaged lettuce for wraps

· 3 cloves garlic, minced

· 1 thumb-size piece ginger, grated

· 1 red chili, minced, OR 1/4 to 1/3 tsp. chili flakes

· 2 shallots, sliced finely

· 1 pound ground turkey – extra lean

· 1 carrot, grated or cut into thin strips

· 5-6 mushrooms, thinly sliced

· 1 egg

· 1/2 cup shredded cabbage (any type will work)

· 3 spring onions, sliced

· 2 Tbsp. lime juice

· 2 Tbsp. soy sauce

· 1 Tbsp. Thai sauce

· TOPPINGS: optional

· 1/3 cup fresh basil OR mint, chopped if leaves are large

· 1/3 cup fresh dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

· Fresh bean sprouts

Preparation:

1. Drizzle oil into a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger, chili, and shallots. Stir-fry one minute, or until fragrant. Stir-frying tip: add a little water if the wok/pan gets too dry instead of more oil.

3. Push ingredients to the side of the wok or pan, and crack in the egg. Stir-fry quickly to break the yolk. Mix in with the other ingredients.

4. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry briefly to mix (avoid over-looking or it will go limp). Remove from heat and do a taste test for salt, adding more fish sauce if not salty enough.

5. Cut off the stem part of the iceberg lettuce so it’s easier to separate the leaves. Now place the lettuce, stir-fried filling, and the toppings on your table in separate bowls/plates, allowing family or guests to make their own wraps.

6. To assemble, take a whole lettuce leaf and place 1-2 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center. Top with a sprinkling of fresh basil and peanuts plus fresh bean sprouts if desired. Then wrap up and eat! (For those who like it extra spicy, fresh-cut chili can be added as another topping.)

ENJOY!

So in summary, treat your body as well as an athlete would. Let’s face it you expect your career will be longer that theirs and you have to set yourself up to succeed – starting with your diet.

As a long time avoider of all things Trump I was surprised to find myself drawn to a copy of a book given to me by a friend recently. It was not a recommendation but more of a dump of books he didn’t want to include in a relocation. It therefore sat there staring at me for weeks unopened but daring me to read it. Eventually I picked it up.

It is a series of blunt, broad-brush, black and white observations from “The Donald” and I found it weirdly fascinating. I learned a little business but a lot about what makes him tick and I was astonished to find myself actually liking the guy. I don’t agree for a moment that some of his tactics would apply in business in general but that they work for him consistently is interesting.

The big thing that I learned was the care he takes to hire people for whom he has respect. Too many businesses hire too quickly and are surprised when the quality of the work is poor. If I could emulate one thing about DT it would be to surround myself with only the very best people that I can find.

It’s a quick read, you can pick it up used for peanuts. Talking of peanuts, take what he says with a pinch of salt and hang on for the ride at the end when he takes you through a week in the life of DT. Very interesting. There I said it. Donald Trump is an interesting guy.

I just took a brain break and had some lunch in front of my TV. I was watching an old recording of the Haney Project from the Golf Channel. I like to see world-class coaches in action regardless of their specialty. At the bottom of the screen was a ticker of top performers on the PGA Tour this year. The number of people I had never heard of alerted me to the fact that these guys were ranking in the top 10 in certain criteria in their chosen profession yet they were unknown to me, and believe me I watch a reasonable amount of golf. So I scrolled back and took some notes.

There are seven categories that are measured and they all make some kind of sense that you would measure them: Average score, driving distance, driving accuracy, total driving, greens in regulation, ball striking and scrambling. This was preceded by the top 10 in earned money (from prizes not endorsements).

Here are some interesting facts that I noted:

▪ In the 80 available top ten positions, there were no fewer than 47 individuals. That is an average of 1.7 rankings per player. The most categories that any golfer was in was four. i.e. No-one was great at everything and some were ranked highly in just one area.

▪ Of the top 10 highest earners there were three who had not made the top ten in any of the previous categories. Their average earnings were about 25% under the top performer (Bubba Watson) who had showed in 4 categories but were equal to another top performer (Tiger Woods) who had showed in 4 categories.

▪ Lee Westwood showed in the top ten on four of the categories but not in the top ten in earnings.

▪ There was no correlation between high earnings and high ranking in any of the seven other categories. Even being in the top ten in lowest average score only gives a 50% chance of being in the top ten earners.

▪ Rory McIlroy was 2nd in earnings yet only showed up in the overall lowest score category.

▪ Only three players who showed up in any of the driving related categories (distance and accuracy) made it into the highest earners thus reinforcing the cliché “Drive for show, putt for dough!”

I can acknowledge that without any further research it is hard to draw any fixed conclusions from this quick survey other than to point out that measuring and managing some variables clearly has little direct impact on overall results. The statisticians measure not what is important but what they can easily measure. This leads amateurs like myself to do ridiculous things like count my GIR (Greens in Regulation) on social rounds. Unthinking copycat that I am I fall into the same trap as the rest of us when we aren’t paying attention. Copying what others do rather than thinking for ourselves about what is important.

For me what is important in reducing my score would be something that only I can judge like the correctness of my shot selection (regardless of the outcome). That has far more bearing on my score than my GIR which tempts me to hit longer shots into the green whereas a conservative approach would make an easier up-and-down or certain bogey. Sorry if I am turning off my non-golfing readers here but the point is simple. Instead of managing my game I use irrelevant, even harmful measures because THAT’S WHAT OTHER PEOPLE USE! Let’s face it, any correlation between the game of professional golf and my game is purely coincidental.

But thankfully I am talking about my golf game. My income and wealth do not depend on my success or otherwise at that. So my question to you is what are you measuring in your business? I hope that you measure a number of metrics but now ask yourself, does this metric directly impact my success? How do I know that for sure? If it doesn’t actually impact your success you have you fallen victim to the two common errors in metric setting; copying and/or measuring only what it is easy to measure? Step back and decide FOR YOURSELF what you should be measuring to get a dashboard of success that means if you hit the top ten there you’ll be in the top ten in earnings too.

I hope that this brain break of mine has given you pause for thought and reflection about the measures at play within your business. If you have any questions (for instance how can you tell if a measurement is critical or not?) then please call me on 604 339 5369 during Pacific Time office hours and I’ll be happy to have a chat with you about this fascinating subject.

As I drive around town I often see a commercial vehicle and ask myself “I wonder what they do?” I can see the name of the business, I see the logo, I see the telephone number but I have no idea what they do for a living. I even think this about seemingly obvious businesses like electrical contractors and plumbers. I mean they can’t be all things to all people so do they specialize in residential or commercial? Are they interested in big projects or small ones? If they don’t know what projects they are best at and which ones they would do all day if they could then they are headed for a big problem at some point. That problem is contained in excessive competition, low margins, inefficient work and staff turnover.

I think that the likes of Shaw and Telus dupe businesses into thinking that their way is the proper way to wrap a vehicle. They have a big logo, catchy picture but no need to tell anyone what you do. We already know what they do. They fix and install residential and business communications services. What the smaller business owner often seems to fail to appreciate is that the big boys have done their branding elsewhere on TV and radio and at events. We no longer need to be told what they do and the vans are simply a tool to add to the brand. In the case of the smaller business, however, the van might be the only time that someone sees the logo. It is essential therefore to tell us what to associate that logo or business name with in order that the business can claim that top of mind place in our thinking when a need arises.

Unless your business name is Mobile Auto Brake Services (which I saw recently and thought it was genius) then you have to tell the audience what it is that you do. How else are they going to know to refer you or think of you as an expert in a certain area?

A recent example is of a local electric contractor. The van is a simple logo, a simple name which inspires confidence in their ability to deliver electrical workmanship but no indication of what they focus on. I went to their website and although they cast their net wide (“residential & commercial. small and large projects”) they only have a gallery of high end residential projects. Their brand therefore is one of delivering the best in the business high-end residential new build and renovation projects. Why doesn’t the business say that? If people like the work they will still ask this business is they do similar sized commercial projects but in the meantime they will have captured the market for their sweet spot.

So if you have a commercial vehicle is it well branded? Ask yourself this question: If a stranger had the exact need that fit my sweet spot for service delivery, profitability and enjoyment of the work would they even think to give me a call before my competitor. If not then you probably need to review your decals.

For more information on how to choose a niche that you can live with and finding the right words that you are confident in wrapping your van with call me at (604) 339-5369. I help the owners of construction businesses and related trades to thrive and I hope that you found this useful today.